Drying studies on peach and strawberry slices

Drying experiments were carried out on peach and strawberry slices using a laboratory scale tray dryer with chamber dimension 30 cm × 30 cm × 20 cm at temperatures of 50, 60, and 70°C for air flow velocities of 0.18, 0.22, and 0.26 m/s. The experimental data were found to fit well with the Page thin-layer drying model. Transport of water during drying was described by Fick’s second law of diffusion and the diffusion coefficients were 3.99, 5.37, and 7 × 10−10 m2 s−1 for peach and 5.39, 7.41, and 8.59 × 10−10 m2 s−1 for strawberry. Activation energy was determined to be 25.92 kJ/mol for peach and 21.49 kJ/mol for strawberry using Arrhenius-type equation